Pocket Mortys: collecting them all is fun and obsessive

At last, it’s Pocket Mortys i.e., a real Rick and Morty mobile game that we can all get behind. Sure there was the wonderful and completely useless (yet still very entertaining) Jerry’s Game but here at last is a Rick and Morty adventure game that has some substance.

Pocket Mortys was released by Adult Swim in late 2015 and since then, quite a bit has already been written about the game. One of the observations that I find quite poignant is that ‘Pocket Mortys’ is the ‘Pokémon’ game that should have been. A Pokémon “rip off” or just inspiration born of the genre, one thing is certain is that Pocket Mortys is brilliantly executed and highly enjoyable to play. How about addictive? Absolutely. So kudos to Adult Swim for pulling it off and acquiring yet another feather for their cap. Seriously, so much of what that organization produces is gold that I would quit my current job and go work for them in a second!

Ok, so Pocket Mortys. The name of course comes from Pokémon which translates roughly into Pocket Monsters so there’s that clear link. Your mission is to collect all of the alternate Mortys in the universe of which there are approximately 70 100 or so (more Mortys might arrive with future game updates). The Mortys you collect will help you in your rock/paper/scissors based battles with all the other kinds of crazy Mortys out there (my favorite at the moment being ‘Veiny Morty’). Plus, as you venture around town, you will find useful items to pick up as well as places where you can wheel and deal with the various Ricks of the universe.

Cables, batteries and fleebs, oh yeah!

One of the most fun aspects of collecting items (circuit boards, cables, batteries, fleebs, etc) is that you can use them to craft recipes. You can do this at the Crafting station and there about 30 recipes that you can make by combining the various items that you find. It’s a lot of guess work and some of the basic 2-item recipes are easy to figure out, but I suspect most of us will be just searching the net for all of the recipe combinations in order to save some time. The following Pocket Morty’s recipes list for crafting will show you all of the combinations of ingredients needed for all 30 items.

The Morty Pad is also available to you in the upper right corner for you to check your stats and current Morty collection, badges you’ve earned and lists of available quests. Salesman Rick‘s is also available for you to buy Morty Manipulator chips and serums, as well as certain in-app purchases.

As mentioned, the battles are based on rock-paper-scissors, so depending on which Morty you’re facing, you may have a tougher (or easier) time depending on the element match up. In my screenshot below, both Greaser Morty and Biker Morty are both level 7 rocks and I’m clearly kicking his greaser ass. Success will earn you some schmeckles plus some XP to help you level up. You may even get some serum as a bonus. Sweet.Plus, what review of Pocket Mortys would be complete without a screenshot of Veiny Morty? Yeah Veiny Morty! Just look at him! Hmm…Scruffy Morty is not faring so well in this battle.

How do you capture and collect Mortys anyway?

So once you defeat these freaky Mortys, how do you collect them? Well, in order to collect a dazed or weak Morty, you need a Morty Manipulator Chip. Right. So where do you get a Morty Manipulator Chip? From Salesman Rick’s of course. A Morty Manipulator Chip costs 500 schmeckles so buy them from Salesman Rick‘s when you get a chance and then use it in battle to collect a Morty. And if that wasn’t specific enough, only wild Mortys are collectible, as opposed to the ones you re forced into battle with.

I will reiterate that a wild Morty needs to be weakened for the Morty Manipulator Chip to work on him. If he’s still too strong, you might end up wasting a perfectly good Chip. Trust me on this one! So far I’ve collected around 40 Mortys. Only 60 or so to go and there better be some kind of cool prize or something for collecting all Mortys.

One thing is certain: seeing as the game is sanctioned by Adult Swim, it’s pretty spot on in terms of dialogue and overall spirit. After all, half the fun is hearing Morty whine and Rick say things in his drunk, belching and condescending voice. I will say though, that after binging on this game for awhile, I started burning out on Rick and Morty’s voices. Still, it’s thoroughly enjoyable once you figure it out and start having fun with it. AND, the soundtrack is great. Pocket Mortys features awesomely cool midi versions of songs from the show which every fan will recognize such as: